Level
You’ve already learned that many musical terms date from ancient Italy. Legato and staccato are two of those words.
Here you see twice the beginning of 'für Elise' by Ludwig van Beethoven. In the first picture there is a slur above the notes. In the second picture there is a dot above each note. You should play the notes in the first example legato, and the notes in the second example staccato.
Legato means that you have to 'glue' all the sounds together. You press the keys so that the sounds match exactly. You do this by pressing the next key while at the same time releasing the previous key. When there is a slur above or below the notes, you should generally play those notes legato.
When playing staccato you immediately release the previous key, so that there’s a gap before you hear the next key. As if the keys are red hot. By clicking the pictures, you’ll hear that they are played at exactly the same speed in both cases.
- Staccato is indicated by a dot below or above the note.
- If there is a slur above or below a group, you usually play these notes legato.